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WILKES-BARRE - The gunman emerged silently from behind a building at the Sherman Hills Apartments.

In an instant, it seemed, he had pulled a pistol and opened fire, striking the passenger of a white Jeep Grand Cherokee. The shots kept coming as the SUV sped out of sight, according to police.

The driver, 22-year-old Tiara McDuffie, said she flipped on the hazard lights, jammed the gas and, at times, drove against traffic.

"I tipped and dodged," she said, shivering in the cold as she puffed a cigarette at the crime scene Tuesday, a day after the shooting. "I got to (Wilkes-Barre General Hospital) in less than five minutes from here. And it still wasn't enough. It still wasn't enough."

The passenger, Shantique "Teeka" Goodson, 27, of 328 Parkview Circle, was alert and conscious during the drive, she said. Goodson told McDuffie, her girlfriend, that everything was going to be OK.

"The whole time in the car, she just kept telling me she loved me, she loved my kids," McDuffie said. "For me to just go straight to the hospital. For me not to cry."

But Tuesday afternoon, near Goodson's apartment, friends and family had set up balloons, candles and a bottle of Hennessy in a memorial for the city's 13th homicide victim.

A man with a history of alleged drug dealing and violence, Kenneth "Stone" Malik Evans III, 21, of 19 S. Empire St., was arrested on an open count of criminal homicide in her death.

The motive was not clear. Friends reported Evans had a "beef" with Goodson, who along with McDuffie was awaiting trial on heroin distribution charges. But McDuffie said the drugs had nothing to do with it, and police did not say what they thought led to the shooting.

According to a police affidavit, officers were dispatched to the area of Building 328 of the apartment complex at 4:18 p.m. Monday. They found shell casings, but nothing else.

About eight minutes later, Wilkes-Barre General Hospital reported a gunshot victim had arrived in an SUV, police said.

An ambulance rushed Goodson to the trauma unit at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, Plains Township. But her condition rapidly deteriorated and she died there, police said.

According to the affidavit, McDuffie told Goodson she had gotten a call on Sunday for the brother of a person identified only as "Tay."

The call came from a blocked number, but the man told McDuffie he was calling from New York, police said. He wanted to know what the "beef" was between Goodson, "Tay" and Evans, according to the affidavit.

Goodson told McDuffie she didn't know what he was talking about and that she had nothing to do with it, police said. McDuffie said Tuesday there was some "he said, she said" rumors going around - something Goodson supposedly said about Evans - but that she didn't know what they were. They were supposed to have settled it the night before, she said.

Later Sunday, McDuffie encountered Evans in front of "Tay's" house, according to police. Evans told her that "your girl (expletive) up," the affidavit says. McDuffie defended Goodson, saying she had nothing to do with it, and they all left the scene when a police car rolled past.

But then Monday afternoon, McDuffie and Goodson pulled into the apartment complex. A friend had been watching McDuffie's dog, and McDuffie pulled alongside the curb to ask if she needed anything.

As the friend approached the vehicle, Evans and "Tay" appeared from between two buildings, police said.

"Everything just happened so fast," McDuffie said. "It was cold. There was no feeling, no kind of emotion, no kind of remorse, no kind of nothing. â¦ It was senseless. He treated her like it wasn't a life that was being taken."

According to the affidavit, witnesses reported the gunman yelled for Goodson to get out of the vehicle, and Goodson responded by asking if they had settled the problem the day before, police said.

"Tay" stood back while Evans approached the vehicle and tried several times to open the door to get at Goodson, police said. Evans raised a pistol and put it inside the open window, firing at Goodson's lower abdomen and groin several times from close range, police said.

Duffie sped off, as the shooter fired off at least two more shots, police said. McDuffie said the left passenger door was also struck.

McDuffie, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., who had been with Goodson for about two years, said she left Wilkes-Barre General Hospital to give a statement to police after learning Goodson was being transferred. Toward the end of the interview, she asked about Goodson, she said.

"I just broke down crying and hung up," McDuffie said. "That's a person that I talked about spending my life with her, that I woke up to every day, that I go to sleep to every day. That's a person my kids have known. My daughters look for her every day."

Police say the gunman fled the scene before they arrived. But witnesses identified Evans as the shooter, according to police.

Investigators arrested Evans early Tuesday. Magisterial District Judge Ronald Swank arraigned him about 9 a.m. and ordered him held at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility without bail pending a preliminary hearing set for 10 a.m., Nov. 21.

Court records show Evans and Goodson have pending drug trafficking cases against them.

Evans was released on $30,000 bail in October after he was arrested on three felony drug distribution charges after police say they found 2,000 bags of heroin worth more than $45,000, a large amount of crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia at his home.

Court records show Goodson was awaiting trial in a drug trafficking case after police arrested her and McDuffie in August following a controlled heroin buy.

Kingston police organized a buy at Schuyler Avenue and West Market Street in Kingston, and an informant bought 99 bags of "Aftershock"-brand heroin from the pair worth $2,000, police said.

Goodson was found in possession of the buy money, and police say she tried to hide a bag of cocaine worth $300 in the seat of a police cruiser after her arrest.

McDuffie, who is free on $25,000 bail in that case, said Tuesday that there is no link between the charges and the shooting. She and Goodson were set up by a jealous ex-boyfriend and they were arrested after doing him a favor, she said.

"I've never sold drugs a day in my life," McDuffie said. "It was just a one-time thing that got to us."

She said family members are still struggling to understand why Goodson was killed. She is struggling to explain it to her children, ages 6 and 3, who keep asking to see Goodson.

McDuffie is left with the final scene of her girlfriend's life playing out in her head.

"I reacted as fast as I could, and it wasn't fast enough. It just wasn't fast enough," McDuffie said. "They was supposed to be friends. He wasn't supposed to do that. He wasn't supposed to do that over a he-said, she-said. It wasn't worth it. This is a life. And still, can't nobody tell me why."

jhalpin@citizensvoice.com

570-821-2058, @cvjimhalpin

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